Questionable Content

And telling you you're pretty.

awwwwww, Faye...

Dora's getting rather physical-feely with her.

Well, her girlfriend is climbing on Faye's girlfriend...

4 WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They have been this cuddly before, its not unusual between them.

I'm just glad to see them back to being this friendly.

comic comic comic

I'm with Faye, for the most part. I don't see any reason why Bubbles would want to turn down Dora's offer, so what's the problem?

For this particular decision, yeah, probably. But Faye's given Bubbles basically zero agency in this plan from the beginning. From before that even.

Bubbles has previously expressed a preference to be consulted on these things.

Yeah, Bubbles specifically asked her not to decide things about their business without involving her.

edited 10th Apr '17 4:49:15 AM by Adannor

Exactly - Faye may think she's being good and helpful, but Corpsewitch essentially denied Bubbles any agency - so there's an association of malice with it. Even if it's "for the best" - even CW said that at times.

Spooky AI coming after Faye for "not learning lessons"?

Naah, no Spooks. Faye isn't screwing with Bubbles' mind, she's screwing up in regular human ways.

Is it me or does Marten drink a lot of fucking coffee?

I can't remember the last time I saw him without a mug in his hand.

I can get behind that.

Presumably he's off of booze after what happened to Faye - whether out of consideration for what happened to her or not - but still Needs A Freaking Drink to deal with all the crazy around him. I know I sort-of do the same to deal with the comparatively mundane crazy that happens around me.

Also, I give it about three pages before they work their differences out and things return to status quo.

EDIT:

edited 10th Apr '17 5:36:36 AM by Reflextion

I can see why Bubbles feels left out, but there are two things to consider here:

1)- Bubbles has been isolated and reclusive for a long while. She doesn't have the same network of friends that Faye has and that's the sort of thing that extremely useful when starting a new career, let alone a business. Bubbles can probably expect to be one step behind in this department for the forseeable future until she gets her own network of contacts going.

2)- Bubbles was the first person Faye came to announce the opportunity to. Yes it would have been great if Faye had contacted Bubbles before, but it's not like Bubbles can't veto the decision. If she really doesn't want to deal with Dora, say so and think of a better plan. Business partners need to have a certain amount of autonomy if they are to get anything done and if they both agreed that Faye would handle securing capital for their business, let Faye fucking handle it.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but all Faye got was a confirmation that Dora was onboard. Nothing has been signed yet. All Faye did was secure an opportunity, not close a deal. Bubbles is being needlessly confrontational, in my honest opinion.

edited 10th Apr '17 5:56:01 AM by GutstheBerserker

Its kind of understandable to be a little bit freaked out when somebody starts acting somewhat similar to a blackmailer that kept you under her thumb for years.

Her need to participate in decision making is emotional, not practical. Faye isn't failing as a business partner, but as a friend.

There was no agreement that Faye would seek to resolve the financial issue. There was Faye deciding to accept Dora's help without checking with Bubbles first. It's true that Bubbles likely would have agreed, but just the same, Faye continually makes decisions without consulting Bubbles. The entire robot repair business was Faye just assuming Bubbles would just go along with Faye's idea.

Basic courtesy should require that Faye, at the very least, call Bubbles up to say, "Hey, I was talking to Dora, and she offered to co-sign the lease. Is that OK with you?" That's the way to treat a business partner. It's also the way to treat a friend. Faye absolutely needs to remember that this is a partnership, and that she can't make major decisions without consulting Bubbles. Shit, even deciding where to put flyers is something that probably deserves a quick "I figure here, there and over there, your thoughts?" before you do it.

Bubbles talks through her feelings

Goddamn it, now Hannelore is enabling Faye's behavior? Why does everyone keep excusing Faye's egocentrism like this? Is "you can get everything you want by bullying people and not caring what they think" a lesson we need MORE Of this day and age?

Uh, I think this really is a case of Faye getting overexcited and ahead of herself, not anything like that. My prediction is that she will begin to check herself in regards to decisions involving this business and checking with Bubbles.

I think Faye was just careless in this instance.

Her deciding that herself and Bubbles were going into the robutt-fixing business after fixing Jeremy? That left me with some uneasy feelings. She was looking on the bright side and trying to secure a new method of income for herself and her friend, but she did decide it out of nowhere without much of an introspective, "So what do we do now, huh?" sort of moment. She was just like "So we're doing this now, you cool with this?" and Bubbles went along with it. I'd argue that it came from a good place, and Bubbles had every right to talk her down if she didn't want to do that, but that example fits the definition of "egocentrism" more than today's strip.

Faye punching CW? CW has always kinda sucked, and I'm glad no-one has to put up with her any more, but it doesn't help that this entire fiasco started right after CW bullshitted an amazing alibi to stop everyone from getting arrested. She threatened May, and I get why Faye would be upset after dealing with that shit for a while, but I think it was the wrong time to make a move. And I thought it was definitely kind of shitty that she just expected Bubbles to drop everything and follow in her wake, despite later developments. That was more of a self-centred moment, and the eventual event of dragging Bubbles away - while ultimately the right thing to do, because fuck CW - was based on "Bubbles MUST be working under her coercion, I have to save her!" - another point I can agree with to a point. that's my main beef with Faye over the last year. These two examples I see as Faye getting a bit over her head and making some bold leaps, and as far as the usual complaints about Faye go, I can get behind these two.

This latest development is Faye thinking she's done something rad, but unintentionally going too far without properly consultation and getting called on it. Sometimes it's best to take the initiative in a business, and in this case I think Faye thought that this development was good all-around - if Bubbles had made a similar move, I think she would be stoked. This event isn't her being self-serving and congratulatory about her saving the day again - it was her thinking she had some good news for the business, and not realizing that her partner would feel locked out of the loop. She's been called on it, she's aware of how Bubbles feels, and she doesn't feel good about what she's done.

Egocentrism implies a deliberate, self-serving angle to inflate one's self-worth, to exert control or generally be the center of attention. I don't think that applies to Faye here. She wasn't even going to take Dora's offer, but Dora insisted - she should have thought it over more thoroughly and told Bubbles about it, but the QC characters are imperfect and shit like this happens. Clinton being creepy towards Hannelore in his initial appearance? That was selfish. He only had his own interests at heart. This snafu was done with the best of intentions, for herself and for Bubbles and I doubt Faye feels good about alienating her business partner like that - now that the problem has presented itself, I'm sure she's going to take steps to be better to Bubbles.

edited 12th Apr '17 2:28:25 AM by MrMallard

Good write-up.